Tunstall partners with home doctor service

Tunstall Healthcare has signed an agreement with the National Home Doctor Service (NHDS) to provide non-emergency after hours home visits for clients.

In addition to providing telehealth products and solutions, Tunstall offers a 24-hour, seven day telecare monitoring service for older people and people with disabilities living at home.

As part of the agreement, Tunstall's care consultants will be able to coordinate an after-hours home visit for clients in non-emergency situations.

The NHDS – which includes medical deputising services Family Care Medical Services in Sydney and south-east Queensland, gpSolutions in Adelaide and Melbourne Medical Deputising Service in Melbourne and Geelong – offers bulk-billed after hours home visits.

It meets the after hours practice incentive program (PIP) criteria but patients can use the service even if their regular GP does not subscribe.

Tunstall said the alliance aimed to reduce unnecessary call-outs for ambulance services for minor ailments.

Tunstall's health services delivery manager Sharryn Gannon, said the The after-hours home doctor service was “a brilliant offering” for her clients, “particularly for those who are unwell when their regular GP is closed, or those who sustain a minor injury at night or on weekends and don't otherwise require an ambulance”.

NHDS CEO Ben Keneally said the partnership with Tunstall would provide a value-added service offering for its clients. “[It] will also promote our service to those vulnerable people in the community who are in most need of this kind of service.”